


A match?

by sleepyanimefan



Series: Match made in somewhere [2]
Category: Given (Anime), Given (Manga)
Genre: I have no idea what I'm doing, M/M, Pre Murata Ugetsu/Uenoyama Ritsuka maybe?, Rare Pairing?, Relationship Problems, character death (mentioned)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28487628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepyanimefan/pseuds/sleepyanimefan
Summary: [Warning: These events take place after chapter 37 of the manga, so anime-viewers and those who have not reached chapter 37 of the manga, proceed with caution!]Ugetsu might be arrogant (only sometimes) but he believed that Aki and himself held the number #1 Award in the category of teenage drama. But listening to other people’s drama would be definitely more entertaining than being in the middle of it.“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. And you’re right, let’s work hard now.”The self-acclaimed most dramatic violinist did not know that he was already part of the drama.Continuation of Something new
Relationships: Kaji Akihiko/Nakayama Haruki, Past Kaji Akihiko/Murata Ugetsu, Satou Mafuyu/Uenoyama Ritsuka, Uenoyama Ritsuka & Murata Ugetsu
Series: Match made in somewhere [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2054373
Comments: 7
Kudos: 19





	A match?

Dinner was surprisingly pleasant. Ugetsu thought that it would be boring or overly formal with how tense young Uenoyama was, but the guitarist was passionate and understanding. When Ritsu-kun (“I’ll call you Ritsu-kun, don’t protest”) offered to ‘engage in conversation’ with whoever it was that upset Ugetsu, the violinist was amused (and a little charmed), then unexpectedly found himself telling this… _kid_ about how breaking up with his first love both crushed him and set him free at the same time. The guitarist listened patiently, face thankfully expressing no pity or judgement.

“Are you happy now, Ugetsu-san?”

The violinist blinked slowly at the question. He was glad that his companion didn’t pry for more information. It was surprisingly easy to talk to the teen although those blue eyes kept staring at Ugetsu intensely.

“No, but it doesn’t hurt so much anymore. I’m glad it’s over.”

“Ugetsu-san is talented and strong. I know Ugetsu-san will be happy again someday,” earnestly claimed Ritsuka, sincere smile on his lips.

Such sincerity was nice, but foreign to the violinist.

“I somewhat doubt that,” smiled Ugetsu. “When you get to know me more, you’ll find me a real piece of work.”

Funnily, Ugetsu didn’t feel like he had to… make himself less than what he was to hold a conversation with young Uenoyama.

“Is Ugetsu-san talking about the great depth of his emotions? I think there’s definitely someone out there whose feelings can match those of Ugetsu-san’s. Or is Ugetsu-san referring to his musical perfectionism? I think Ugetsu-san’s ex sounds kind of dumb. The guy has the perfect chance to learn from Ugetsu-san and master the violin, if not to stand side-by-side with Ugetsu-san then at least for himself.”

For the first time in… well, a long time, Ugetsu found himself burst out laughing… Aki could be very dumb, indeed. And he himself was just as stupid, especially when staying in Aki's company. Or perhaps Aki's dumbness was just so strong that it lowered Ugetsu's quite impressive IQ when they were in close proximity?

It wasn't every day he bumped into such a pleasant human. Maybe that was why Ugetsu didn’t say no when he drove the high-schooler back home (“My crazy sister will alert the whole district if I’m home too late, sorry Ugetsu-san!”) and Ritsuka shyly asked if they could play something together someday (“not the adult kind of play Ugetsu-san!” This guitarist was just too hilarious.) After all, most people would only voluntarily play with the violinist when they were paid to, anything else was simply detrimental to their self-esteem.

“Sorry Uenoyama-kun, I missed your calls yesterday because my phone was out of battery. I was visiting Kaji-san’s new place!” Mafuyu called out to his boyfriend the next day at school.

The guitarist no longer felt jealous of Kaji-san for being Mafuyu’s music confidant, but the battery comment irritated him anyway.

“Wasn’t it in the evening? It’s dangerous to be out when you can’t use your phone, Mafuyu!” mumbled Uenoyama, taking a breath to calm himself down. “Did you have fun? How was Kaji-san’s new place?”

“It’s the opposite of his old place. And I talked to him about given’s debut offer,” responded Mafuyu mildly and the black-haired boy perked up and couldn’t help feeling hope blooming inside his chest.

“Have you come to a decision?!”

“Uenoyama-kun… I need more time to think about it,” Honestly, Uenoyama was alright with the vocalist’s need for more time because this decision meant a serious commitment to music, to their two senpais and… scarily, their relationship as well.

But the guitarist’s heart couldn’t help squeezing itself tightly as if to disappear and escape from the profound agony at the faraway look on Mafuyu’s sweet face.

Ritsuka was really helpless in this relationship. He dearly hoped that at least Mafuyu found his presence and their relationship a source of help to deal with his grief. But sometimes it looked like nothing could help the traumatized vocalist.

“Sure, take as much time as you need, Mafuyu. And… I know Hiiragi’s band is taking all my time these days, but I love performing with ‘given’ the most, you know that right?” _I love spending time with you the most._ “We have one more gig and then I’ll stop playing support for them.”

Mafuyu smiled distantly and nodded toward some vague direction… Guess Ritsuka might as well give his boyfriend some space, too. Because it felt like Yuki was lurking around there somewhere.

* * *

Ugetsu didn’t expect himself to contact the blue-eyed guitarist a week after their first meeting.

“Ritsu-kun, how do you feel about being my accompanying guitarist? And I mean classic guitar, not your Telecaster.”

Silence for 3 seconds and the blue-eyed teen slowly responded on the other end of the line:

“I do know how to play the classic guitar. I have to play support for an important gig soon, though…” but then the guitarist mumbled something like “freaking Hiiragi…” and suddenly shouted or spoke very loudly and fast. “I can still make time for Ugetsu-san!!! What are we performing and when?”

“I have to do a short piece for some exchange event at my university in 10 days, but you don’t have to…”

“But I want to! And my gig is 2 weeks away from Ugetsu’s event so it’s good!”

At first the violinist felt quite annoyed about the silly ‘task’… He was more used to playing solo in formal events, not such a… pointless one whose purpose was probably for his university to show off their students (and quite possibly himself particularly) like a party trick. And his faculty wanted him to play with an orchestra, or at least perform a duet because the audience included students of other majors and the complexity of his solo pieces was apparently not for everybody. Ugetsu was tempted to look for an international competition then and there to flee the country…

But then earnest words and blue eyes crossed Ugetsu’s gloomy mind, giving him an idea to make the whole thing much more enjoyable and interesting for himself. Wasn’t the guitar one of the most popular instruments to non-musicians? If the others liked it, good, if not, he just did not care.

“Get ready to practice until your fingers fall off, Ritsu-kun because I’m aiming for perfection.”

“Hahahaha!!!” laughed the younger one merrily. “Please beat me into shape, Ugetsu-san!!!”

* * *

Uenoyama did not know whether Ugetsu-san attending the same university with his sister and senpais was a good thing or not… but it certainly helped him make up excuses. It also helped that Yayoi was less mean to her baby brother because of residual guilt from the hurtful words about his relationship with Mafuyu and her pity seeing him walk the path to hell finishing his boyfriend’s dead ex’s song.

“Anue, if anyone asks about me next week, can you please tell them I’m helping you prepare for your university’s event?”

“Eh, how do you know about that event? I haven’t even told you yet!” shouted Yayoi. “And why are you lying to your bandmates?” His sister was always intuitive.

“I think Yatake-san posted something about it on Twitter? The band I’m playing support for is very demanding, they’re performing professionally you know? I don’t want Haruki-san, Kaji-san and Mafuyu to misunderstand that I prefer…”

“Say no more, but you’d better not be out too late little brat!!!” Yayoi poked the guitarist repeatedly on his forehead. “And you’d better thank me properly later!!!”

His sister was really scary sometimes.

After convincing Hiiragi that taking a week off from practicing with them to help his sister would not 'make him suck' and he could totally catch up in the two weeks before the actual gig, Uenoyama informed his boyfriend:

“Mafuyu, I’ll be helping my sister prepare for some event at her uni all of next week. I’ll make up to you when everything’s done!” said Uenoyama pleadingly, watching Mafuyu’s face carefully.

“It’s alright Uenoyama-kun. I don’t mind.”

“I’ll miss you a lot… Let’s text each other every day, yeah?” Uenoyama’s face went all red, one hand rubbing his neck embarrassingly.

“Focus on what you have to do, Uenoyama-kun. We can still catch up at lunchtime.”

“I have to go home during lunchtime until the exchange event is over so…” mumbled the taller boy guiltily.

He needed to practice a lot to be able to not look like an amateur with a classic guitar in little more than a week. He could not afford to waste a minute.

“I’ll remember to charge my phone regularly then,” said Mafuyu.

Other than ‘good night’ and ‘have a good day, take care of yourself’, Uenoyama didn’t really know what else to say to his boyfriend during those 10 days. He couldn’t afford to accidentally say something stupid and touch upon dangerous topics. Ritsuka truly did not have time to think too hard about anything other than the melody of the piece Ugetsu-san chose and figured out how to transpose an accompanying piece on the guitar. It was a good thing Mafuyu had never communicated much anyway.

* * *

Kaji-san and Haruki-san called Uenoyama a demon in the practice room. The guitarist felt exhilarated to work with a fellow demon. They were clearly a match made in hell. Sharp words were thrown around, they worked each other's fingers to the bones (sometimes it really felt literally), but… it felt damn good. Unlike sessions with Hiiragi and Shizusumi which usually left him irritated (and haunted when Yuki’s ghost got summoned by the annoying Hiiragi), Ugetsu’s blunt criticism and calm and no-nonsense attitude pushed the high schooler to test the limit of his own ability and go beyond.

Ugetsu did not know he had made friends with some sort of prodigy but watching his new… friend / accompanist going through the practice regimes the violinist had drawn up with the obsession of a madman, never once complaining about the level of difficulty or the workload, the violinist wondered how come he didn’t meet this fellow musician sooner.

“Do you always play in bars or have you performed elsewhere?”

“I’m currently playing support for a pop band,” Uenoyama stuck his tongue out and cringed dramatically, and Ugetsu found this very amusing and cute. “As for my actual band, I don’t know where the hell we’re going in the future, and it’s kind of a long story sooo… I’ll tell Ugetsu-san about it after the exchange event if Ugetsu-san is still interested in teenage drama? I need to focus now to make sure I don’t tarnish Ugetsu-san’s reputation in front of the public.”

 _‘It's quite refreshing for laughter to flow out of myself so naturally’_ thought Ugetsu to himself. sometimes the violinist had to make himself react according to normal people's expectation just so that the world remember that yes, Murata Ugetsu was a human. Ugetsu might be arrogant (only sometimes) but he believed that Aki and himself held the number #1 Award in the category of teenage drama. But listening to other people’s drama would be definitely more entertaining than being in the middle of it.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. And you’re right, let’s work hard now.”

The self-acclaimed most dramatic violinist did not know that he was already part of the drama.

* * *

Uenoyama was so nervous on the big day that he failed to notice Ugetsu’s exasperated looks throwing his way whenever the guitarist rubbed his hands on his trousers. He didn’t dare to touch the dark grey vest and scary-(fancy)-looking light blue long-sleeved shirt that Ugetsu-san lent him so he didn’t stick out like a sore thumb in the upcoming classical music concert. (The high schooler had one formal shirt but he did not realize he already outgrew it one day before their performance, earning him a smack on the head from the violinist.) Despite his black everything (“Black is my colour, Ritsu-kun, don’t give me that weird face”), Ugetsu-san still somehow looked like a storybook angel, thought Uenoyama to himself. A very dark, dangerous and deadly ethereal being who created glorious music with his violin, blessing the ears of lucky listeners.

Ugetsu was both exasperated and fond of young Uenoyama’s nervous tics. At least it was better than the frantic gratitude and disbelief (“Please cease your dying fish antics Ritsu-kun”) the guitarist burst into when Ugetsu gave him an Ovation guitar three days before the exchange event.

“Consider it a gift for your hard work. If you check for the price anywhere, I’ll be very upset,” warned the older man, recalling when the blue-eyed teen admitted to not googling Ugetsu as he was asked not to, but going on YouTube to search for Ugetsu’s name instead.

“I don’t need to research the price of this guitar Ugetsu-san, I know it’s high-end. You shouldn't have got such an expensive model!!!”

“Well, I don’t know anything about guitars. And I have money with no good things to spend on,” the violinist rebutted serenely, so the poor guitarist had no idea if it was a lie. “I just want something that sounds bold and projects well. You’ll do it justice, will you not?”

Back to the present, Ugetsu knocked his knuckles on Uenoyama’s head teasingly as they enjoyed tea as black as their hair and souls. They were walking toward the backstage of the concert hall. It was nearly their turn.

“Calm down will you? We’re last so I won’t accidentally steal anyone’s thunder. Most people leave in the second half so you can just play and enjoy yourself.” _Like you do when we practice together._

“I’m pretty sure people will stay because they know Ugetsu-san’s performing last,” laughed the guitarist hysterically. “Don’t mind me Ugetsu-san, I won’t let such a ridiculous thing as my nerves prevent me from showing these people what we’re made of!”

“That’s the spirit.”

Uenoyama was comforted by Ugetsu’s faith in his skills, but he was still nervous. He failed to notice important things. Like one of the earlier performances was Kaji-san playing the 1st movement of Vivaldi’s Spring with a pianist, probably to celebrate the spring in his life – Haruki-san. (Ugetsu thought that it was fortunate that Ritsuka and he went last because seeing him perform would probably be detrimental for Akihiko’s mood and confidence.) The silence from the audience felt foreign and a little creepy to the young guitarist since he was used to looking at cheering and screaming people during performances. Peeking through the curtain, Uenoyama calmly ignored the weight of probably a hundred pairs of eyes or more to quickly locate the little chair and short microphone already set out for the accompanying guitarist (himself) so that he would not be a disaster later and somehow headed for the wrong direction when getting on stage.

“Are you ready?” smirked Ugetsu playfully.

“Yes,” grinned Uenoyama dashingly, surprising the violinist.

They walked on stage and bowed to the audience, receiving loud applause. Ugetsu’s melodic and elegant voice resonated through the concert hall, bringing silence back into the auditorium and unexpectedly making Ritsuka’s poor nerves and heart calm down.

“My name is Murata Ugetsu. This is my accompanist, Uenoyama Ritsuka. Today we are performing the 2nd movement from Astor Piazzolla's Histoire du Tango, Café 1930.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this instead of reviewing for my 7 exams... Guess I'll join these handsome human disasters in hell. Please let me know what you think. Thank you so much for reading my word vomit! I hope 2021 will be kind to whoever's reading this :)  
> The piece that Ugetsu and Ritsuka perform at the end is beautifully performed by Chloe Chua and Kevin Loh. I left it play in the background as I wrote this story.


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